Home
AutoCAD Solutions
Automation Examples
3D Piping Symbols
AutoCAD DVIEW
AutoCAD QLeader
HTML Color Chart
Isometric Drawing
Steelcase Inventory
Document Forms
Spreadsheet Forms
Logos
Icons |
Office Automation Example -
Steelcase Inventory
Our first example is a project that involves used Steelcase furniture
inventory.
The existing tools are
The existing process was:
Insert Steelcase Symbols from the Steelcase Furniture Library CD
into an AutoCAD 2000 Architectural floor plan.
Count the furniture pieces in the drawing by hand or with the QS
Quick Select program or the ExtAttr.xls Excel file that comes with AutoCAD.
If using the ExtAttr.xls Excel file, create a pivot table in the
ExtAttr.xls Excel file to count the furniture symbols by attributes (not completely
accurate for total counts).
Provide the field installers a plan with a list of furniture and
connectors required to install each piece (screws, brackets, finishing endpieces, etc.).
These parts are counted up manually.
The needs for automation were:
A faster, more accurate way to count the furniture symbols.
A way to display both 2D plan and 3D plan for each office.
A master list of furniture pieces currently stocked with the parts
required for installation of each.
A lookup in the master list for each part in a project to see what
installation parts need to be included and automatically total each part.
The automation solution included these steps:
Research was made on AutoCAD and an Express tool was found called
"BCOUNT.lsp" in the Express tools folder. This is included in newer
versions of AutoCAD.
AutoCAD 2000's Express tool "Block Count" (BCOUNT) lets you either count all the
blocks in a drawing or select a particular area of the drawing to count blocks. This
program is very fast compared to other methods of listing and counting selected blocks.
The drawback is: How to get the text you see above in the AutoCAD text window
into the Excel template? And, how do you get rid of those periods showing up between
the block name and the Count column?
To provide a more automated transfer from the AutoCAD text screen
shown above to a two column list of blocks and totals, a Word template was provided that
has an AutoNew macro embedded in it. This AutoNew macro deletes the periods in the
BCOUNT output and cleans up the list like you see here:
This happens automatically if the user first copies the BCOUNT output from the AutoCAD
Text Window in to the clipboard. Then, they double click on the Word template in
Windows Explorer.
Another way to run the Word macro is to save the Word template in the user's template
folder. Then all they have to do is say File / New in Word and open the template
that way.
The next step was to provide a database or list of all the standard
furniture pieces kept in stock (office panels, desks, chairs, surfaces, etc.) and the
parts required to install each piece (screws, brackets, finishing endpieces, etc.)
This was accomplished with an Excel spreadsheet. The user was not comfortable with
an Access database because they don't have any other computer oriented people around to
help them learn it or fix it if it ever got corrupted.
Two Excel spreadsheets were provided.
One for the Master list of inventory which should always be opened first,
and another spreadsheet was made for a Project as you see here:
A copy of the original Project.xls is made for each job they do.
Notice that the text from the Word template was copied to the clipboard and pasted into
cell A5 on the spreadsheet. The text from column C and all the data to the right was
automatically looked up in the master list. The parts are multiplying times the
Count shown in Column B. The total number of parts appear at the top of each column.
To copy formulas for a list of blocks that is longer than the original Project.xls file,
select the group of cells C5 thru AG5 as you see here and use the box at the lower right
to drag and copy the formulas down as far as you need them. This will populate the
cells below with the formula and the cells will fill in.
If your spreadsheet looks like this with #N/A appearing in some cells:
Then the blank space in Column A was not found on the Master.xls
file. This also occurs if a word appears in Column A that cannot be found in the
Master.xls file.
To fix these errors, select a cell or cells to the right of the errors as you see here:
Move your mouse over the little black box at the bottom right of the selected cells and
drag these blank cells over the cells to the left containing the error "#N/A".
This writes over the formula and ignores the text in Column A.
The last request was to provide an AutoCAD drawing printout for
each job along with a checklist for the work to be done on each piece.
This was done with AutoCAD and the Steelcase Library 2D to 3D conversion program.
Then a little training for the user with standard AutoCAD commands like VPOINT, DVIEW, and
Layout.
First we drew the project in 2D using the Steelcase Furniture Library to insert standard
furniture blocks into the drawing.
In order show architectural columns and walls that would be incluced in the planned camera
views, we gave these walls and columns a thickness using AutoCAD MO Modify Properties.
Then, we copied the 2D area to another part of the plan and marked clearly where the copy
"from" and copy "to" points were located.
We used the Steelcase 2D to 3D conversion on the second copy of the plan. This 3D
copy allows us to then create both 2D and 3D views in the same drawing without XREFs.
In order to select a precise camera view, we started a line from the endpoint at the top
corner of a partition and extended it upward using @0,0,6'
We created a new layout tab, inserted a border and scaled the MVIEW to
1/4"=1'-0" by clicking the viewport to view grips and using the MO Modify
Properties program to change the scale of the view. By double clicking inside the
view and panning, we were able to get the exact view we wanted for the plan.
The 3D view was first a copy of the plan view. Then, we double clicked inside the
view to activate it in Model Space. By using the AutoCAD toolbar button VIEW / SW
Isometric View, we were able to set up DVIEW with PO Points. We selected a point on
the floor of the office for the target and the endpoint of the line we created at the top
of the partition for the camera. By using the D Distance option of DVIEW, the
perspective was displayed.
To finish the drawing, we double clicked again on the plan view and ran a BCOUNT of the
blocks in the office shown. We used F2 and copied the text from the AutoCAD text
window. We then started the T MText command and pasted this clipboard text into the
MText editor.
Once one layout was created to our satisfaction, we right clicked the tab and copied it
multiple times for each of the rest of the cubicles.
Order you copy of these three files: the Word template and the Master
and Project Excel files. These files are provided "As Is" and no support
besides what is found on this web page will be provided.
| Item Number: |
Price: |
Order now! |
| STLCASExcel |
$9 USD |
|
|
|
|
|
